The Roman-Byzantine Castellum of Durostorum-Dorostol on the Bank of the Danube in Silistra (Abstract)

The Roman-Byzantine castellum of Durostorum-Dorostol on the bank of the Danube in Silistra (Abstract) Georgi Atanasov The present study presents the Late intervals of 12 m, at the apexes of the wall, Antique urban agglomeration of there were large pentagonal towers with Durostorum-Dorostol and the construction cylindrical interiors for stairs, with small of a new fortification – the castellum on solid triangular towers (Fig. 2, 5, 6) in the the bank of the Danube. On the grounds of recesses. The wall was solid with two inscriptions, its beginnings are dated to foundations up to 3 m deep and 3.60 m the very late 3rd c., when an active wide. The first four courses of the monetary circulation emerged, attested by superstructure were built of large ashlars ten coins of the Emperor Diocletian (283- (often reused) with emplectum of split 305) and pottery from the 4th c. The stones and pink mortar. Above them, up to ground plan of the 4th c. northern wall the platform, the wall was built in pseudo- along the Danube was also complemented, brick masonry with identical emplectum. as a new rectangular tower was discovered Only the northern wall along the Danube recently (Fig. 2, 1). Based on the was entirely of stone blocks. It was up to stratigraphy, the narrative sources and the 4.20 m thick and the foundations were 4.50 monetary circulation, it was established m deep (Fig. 2, 3). that about the middle of the 5th c. the fortress was demolished and in the 6th c., A postern in the northern wall was under Justinian I (527-565), new discovered (Fig. 2, 2), as well as two gates, fortifications were built ad fundamentum respectively in the eastern and the southern (Fig. 2). At some places, mainly to the wall (Fig. 2, 13, 14). The southern gate east, the ruins of the 4th c. walls were used was flanked by two towers of almond- as foundations (Fig. 4), but in most cases shaped ground plan, enclosing large (especially to the south) the wall follows a propugnaculum, some 10 by 12 m. The new course. eastern gate probably had a similar ground plan, but it seems that in the 7th c. it was In result of the archaeological razed to the ground and, in the early 9th c., investigations in 1969-1972, 1986-1987, on top of its ruins a new medieval gate was and most of all in 2007-2011, the plan and built, similar to the gates of Pliska. the elements of the new fortification were specified. It is without parallel in the Late Stratigraphic observations indicate Antique and medieval fortification works. that the fortress, constructed in the 6th c., The castellum has a polygonal, trapezoid- was rebuilt in the early 9th c. It was used like shape, encompassing an area of about throughout the Middle Ages and the 5 ha (Fig. 1, 2). The curtain wall follows Ottoman Period, and historical and an indented course in W-M system, and at archaeological evidence date its 1 destruction to the Russian-Ottoman war in walls of Thessaloniki, Aquileia, and the summer of 1810. Chersonesus, but never in such a regular manner, and ad fundamentum. The Regarding the plan and the specific building technique is unusual, especially features of the fortress (or rather the the pseudobrick masonry above the plinth citadel) of Durostorum-Dorostol-Drastar- to the platform. In general, the plan of the Silistra, parallels are adduced of all citadel of Durostorum-Dorostol-Drastar elements of the fortifications - towers, resembles the Vauban type fortifications gates, the curtain wall, configuration, that appeared and became popular only in building techniques, etc. It is noted that its the 17th c. This is one of the reasons for constructions followed the directions of the the citadel to remain in use for 13 Classical authors Philon, Vitruvius, centuries, including in 17th-19th c., when Vegetius and most of all of the so-called the Vauban system was the standard for the Anonymous Byzantine (Military European fortifications. Compendium of Sirianus Magiste) - a case without parallel in the fortification works. There emerges the legitimate It is established that similar towers with question if the fortress of Dorostol-Drastar- sharp edges have parallels mostly in Silistra, completely preserved by that time fortresses from 5th-7th c., but there are no and described in detail by Evliya Çelebi known examples of identical pentagonal and other foreign authors, could have been towers with constricted base. The gates one of the prototypes to inspire Marshal also reveal specifics that could be seen in Sébastien de Vauban and his followers, as Ancyra and Serdica, but there is no it was well known in Europe from identical; parallel. The same could be seen descriptions of travelers and annalists from in the indented curtain wall of W-M 15th to 18th c. system. It is attested in some parts of the 2 .

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